Something is not right
by snowspell
Summary: Things that Mara knows about Mara: she hates milk, she's read some Shakespeare, she's good with languages, and she really, really, REALLY hates Edward Cullen. She makes one mistake on his eye color & he's trying to glare a hole right through her! EC/OC


"Mara?"

Mara paused the video game she was playing and looked up. Mrs. Barrows, her case working beckoned her from the door. Mara quickly saved her game and followed the older woman down the hall to her office. As they walked, Mara tugged the end of one of her dark pigtails, trying to figure out what she was being called into the office for. She looked up at Mrs. Barrows through her fringe, trying to discern her mood. Mrs. Barrows was in her mid 50s with blousy salt and pepper hair that she kept in a perpetually messy bun held together with various pens and pencils. In the three months that Mara had been at the center Mrs. Barrows had always been pretty nice, if a little distracted. In return, Mara tried to cause as few problems for the woman as she could.

They each took a seat in the cramped office and Mrs. Barrows turned to Mara with a smile. "I have good news, Mara. I found a foster family that can take you. Their names are…" she paused to find the placement information on her computer, "Ah, Pamela and John Doyle. They live about 3 hours from here, in Washington." Mara's dark eyes blinked a few times at the sudden news. When she had first been released from the hospital and brought here, Mrs. Barrows had gently told her that it was unlikely they would be able to find a foster family for her before she aged out of the system. The doctors had been unsure of her exact age but they thought she was about 16 or 17. With a mental shake, Mara pulled her thoughts back to the present.

"Oh. Um, thanks. When…?" she trailed off uncertainly, rubbing the pale skin of her forearm. She couldn't seem to stop fidgeting. Her head was swimming from the sudden change in her living arrangements.

"We'll be getting you packed tonight and I'll have Mr. Talbert drive you there tomorrow after lunch," Mrs. Barrows said, "I know that you haven't been here long but, is there anyone that you need to have some time to tell?"

Mara shook her head. Mrs. Barrows always tried to let the kids say goodbye when they were placed, but Mara was the oldest in the center and hadn't really clicked with anyone.

"Alright then. I've had Mr. Talbert bring a suitcase up to your bed. I'll let you get to packing, okay?" Mrs. Barrows said with a wave of dismissal.

Mara left the office and made her way to the dorms. Her bed was the third on the left and, just as Mrs. Barrows had promised, a scuffed suitcase lay open on it. Mara mechanically packed as she considered her future. She was a bit ambivalent she decided. She was worried about the move, of course. And attending a new school and all but after the accident her life had been a bit like floating down a river, being carried where ever the current took her. This was just one more eddy in the ever shifting tides. _Come on, Mara! Snap out of it._ She thought fiercely. _Think positive. Maybe something will jog your memory._ With that more upbeat thought, Mara closed the full suitcase with a click and het her mind to the future.

…ooo000ooo…

Mara hitched her backpack higher on her shoulder as she dodged the rushing crowds swarming the halls. She studied the crumpled schedule clutched in her hand and then looked back up at the classroom numbers as she tried desperately to find her first class. _Oh come on!_ She thought in frustration. _This school has, like, 400 students. I can't be getting __lost__ here._ Finally she found her class and managed to get in before the bell rang. The teacher, Mr. Mason, signed her slip and handed her a text book and stack of papers before pointing her to a desk about half way back in the class. Mara kept her head down as she walked down the aisle and slid into her seat. She fidgeted with her black, rubber bracelets, uncomfortable with the stares she was getting from the class. Finally the teacher called the class to order and she was mostly ignored in favor of the pop quiz on Shakespeare the teacher gave out. The teacher had Mara take the quiz as a 'gage of her knowledge'. A little surprised, Mara found that she knew most of the answers about the comedies and a couple of the tragedies but drew a total blank on anything to do with Hamlet or King Lear. _Well that answers one question. Where ever I went to school, I took some Shakespeare._ She thought with a small smile.

The car accident had caused gaping holes in her memory. The doctor had warned her that head trauma was hard to predict and she might get her memory back but she should be prepared in case it never happened. She hated this big blank in her mind and had used her sense of the familiar to piece together some of her past but it was slow going, like playing clue with your own history.

After class several of the students offered to help her find her next class. Mara grinned, her heart lifted by their help. She showed them her schedule and one of the girls, Angela, said her math class was right across the hall from Mara's next class. She smiled shyly as she showed Mara the way.

"So, you just moved here?" she asked quietly.

"Um, yeah. I'm living with the Doyles."

Angela nodded her understanding but was unable to ask anything more as they reached their classes, "That's you," she said, pointing to room 307, "See you at lunch?"

Mara smiled at her new friend and nodded in relief. She had been worried about where to sit at lunch. With a wave she walked into her US history class. The teacher went through an identical process of signing, hand out a book and assigning her a seat. Mara hung her bag across the back of her chair and pulled out her notebook. She looked around but found no one from her English class. Her eyes skittered to a stop on a guy sitting kitty-corner to her. She could see his profile as he paid attention to the teacher's description of the industrial revolution. His hair was an odd reddish brown, and wind whipped, like he had just come from outdoors. Full lips softened his strong jaw-line and high cheekbones. He was…her mind couldn't come up with a description. Way too good looking for handsome, but pretty seemed to girly for his masculine looks. The only word she could come up with was beautiful and she felt a bit embarrassed attributing that descriptor to a guy. Mara watched his lips quirk in a slight smile and she forced her attention back to the teacher. Listening she wondered what Ms. Clark had said that was funny. She seemed sort of dry to Mara.

The rest of the class was humiliating. Every time her focus wavered for even a moment she found herself staring at the boy across from her. It was ridiculous. Over and over again she wrenched her eyes away only to find them sliding back a few minutes later. Finally she gave up and turned her attention to the guy with a frown. _What is it about this guy?_ She wondered in annoyance. He was stunning but she didn't live in a cave, she had seen hot guys before and it had never made her act like this. The bell finally rung and she threw her books into her backpack, nearly sprinting to the door.

The next few classes went by in a blurred cycle; sign, book, seat, take notes, next class. Finally the bell rang for lunch. Mara's stomach was growling for food as she followed the stream of students heading to the cafeteria. Angela met up with her in the lunch line and the talked about their classes and the other students as she got their food. Angela steered her towards a table with a half dozen other kids sitting at it. Mara sat down and smiled as they introduced themselves as Mike, Jessica, Eric, Mallory and Bella. "Wow, two new students in two weeks. Weird," Jessica said as she munched on a fry. Mara looked at her in askance for a moment before Bella raised her hand sheepishly. "I just started last Monday," she said with a shrug. Mara turned to her and they shared a knowing smile, finding common ground in being strangers in the school. "So, what are the teachers like?" Mara asked the table in general. Everyone began answering and the table continued to bustle with chatter.

Mara smiled, feeling accepted and happy. She listened to the talking going on around her when she noticed Bella stiffen. Turning to follow her gaze she saw the guy from her history class sitting with a group of…models? _Seriously! What is in the water around here?_ She thought with a twinge of annoyance. There were five of them, three boys and two girls. And each was, well, perfect. Mara studied them minutely. They weren't the same, in fact she thought they all looked quite different except for their eyes and skin tone. Turning back to Bella she saw that the girl had ducked her head to hide behind her curtain of hair. Mara could sympathize. She often did the same by hiding beneath her bangs. She opened her mouth to ask about the guy from her class but changed her mind at the last moment. It looked like Bella was a little upset. Better not to mention anything.

"Hey, how's your ankle?" Mike suddenly asked. Bella turned and smiled, "Fine actually. It was hurting earlier but it's all good now. She turned her ankle in a circle to prove it. "What happened?" Mara asked curiously. Jessica launched into a description of how Bella had nearly been crushed by Tyler Crowley's van last Monday. Mara turned in awe toward the embarrassed girl, "Wow, and you're already back in school? You've got some moxy!" Mara heard someone snort in laughter and she turned to see the guy from History class walk past with a secret smile curving his lips. Mara watched him in confusion for a moment before giving it up as a lost cause.

Mara groaned as she noticed Gym class right after lunch. The scheduler was obviously a sadist. When she groused about it, Angela said she had the same Gym class. Gym was made only marginally better by having a friend in it. Mara didn't mind exercise but gym usually involved watching the boys fight over whatever ball was in play and Forks High was no different. Mara changed out of her gym clothes, pulling on her white tank and jacket before heading to the last class of the day, Spanish.

Senora Golf signed her slip and pointed her to a seat in the third row. Mara's heart sunk a little as she saw that not only was the guy from History sitting in the indicated row, one of the guys he was sitting with at lunch was also there. History Guy was once again sitting near her, this time exactly across the aisle, while his larger friend was sitting just behind him.

"Atencion," Senora Golf said, drawing the students' eyes, "Gracias. Today we will continue our lesson on descriptors. Now, pair off down the rows. You will be describing the person sitting to your left. Comienzo!"

Mara turned reluctantly to her partner with a nervous smile, "Hola, mi nomre es Mara." "Soy Chris," He responded with a face-splitting grin. "So you want to go first?" he asked.

"Oh, si" She turned to look at her subject and groaned as she realized it was History Guy.

"Usted describira a Edward?" Chris asked, pointing at History Guy.

_So your name is Edward huh?_ She thought, risking a glance at History Guy-Edward. "Si, comienzo."

"Pelo?" he asked, looking down at their worksheet.

_Hair? Right! Hair color._ She thought, tearing her eyes away from her subject and returning them to Chris, "Su Pelo es marron,"

"Si, Bueno! Altura?"

"No se altura. Mas alto que mi?" She said, unsure what his height was. She indicated with a hand, how much taller he was than her.

Chris laughed a bit before moving on to eye color, "Ojos?"

"Verde," Mara responded.

"Verde? No, sus ojos son marrones." Chris corrected.

Mara looked surprised. _Brown?_ She wondered, Mara could have sworn that they were green. Turning to check, she found the boy scrutinizing her with a narrowed golden gaze. He looked…suspicious. Mara was saved from the angry glare by the teacher calling an end to the exercise. She thanked Chris then turned around in her seat to face the teacher. Throughout the class she felt that stare burning into her. Mara studiously kept her eyes on the teacher, almost afraid to look over. After class she picked up her books and filed out with the rest of the students. As she pushed through the hall she caught a snippet of conversation from the pale, muscular guy from Spanish, "Don't worry about it bro. She just made a mistake. It's not the dire situation you seem to think." Glancing over she saw History Guy still pinning her with a suspicious look. Mara ducked her head and kept it down the entire way back to the Doyle's.

Mrs. Doyle asked how her day was and she gave a non-committal answer before disappearing into her room. Mr. Doyle was a fisherman and was in Alaska most of the year doing Crab and Salmon fishing. Mara wondered about the boy's strange reaction to her in Spanish class. _I really thought they were green. Why?_ She wondered in annoyance. She wasn't the most observant person in the world but she had never made such a blatant mistake before.

..oo00oo..

**Author's Note: So I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this one. If you have any suggestions let me know with the handy review button. :-) **


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